REVIEW: All for You by Lynn Kurland

Sometimes a girl just needs a knight in shining armor – and, in a pinch, tweed (and the help of some matchmaking ghosts) will do quite nicely.

Peaches Alexander’s life is not going as smoothly as she would like. Her career has imploded, she has no real employment prospects and her savings account is dwindling. There has been a lot of upheaval in her family recently (see One Enchanted Evening and One Magic Moment), and Peaches is stressed out. And if she wishes for a starring role in her own personal fairy tale, well…a girl can dream, right?

Stephen de Piaget is mostly satisfied with his life – he gets to study (and teach) a subject he enjoys, spend time with his family at a castle he loves, and runs up to Scotland for hands-on medieval swordplay (and more) whenever he can get away. If sometimes he wishes he could experience things a little more authentically, well…one can’t have everything, right?

Stephen and Peaches have a difficult relationship. They got off on the wrong foot and have stayed there – due to Stephen’s talent for putting that foot in his mouth whenever Peaches is around. Only after they both attend a house party given by the Duke of Kenneworth – Stephen’s nemesis and someone who has shown a great deal more interest in Peaches than Stephen would like – and Stephen helps her out of a series of bad situations does Peaches start to let go of her dislike for him.

(An aside – the series of circumstances that throw Peaches and Stephen together on the way to the house party are much too contrived. I say, if the premise of a story is something unlikely – like time travel – everything else has to be extra realistic…maybe that’s just me. Onward!)

After Stephen helps Peaches (another brief aside – how much do I dislike the name Peaches?? I don’t care if your parents were hippies…pick a new name! *ahem*) escape the duke’s evil clutches, they settle into a truce. Stephen even hires Peaches as his research assistant (not only for her brain but because he wants to keep her nearby). But just as things start to develop between them, the evil duke rears his icky head. Suddenly, Stephen’s whole way of life is in peril. He realizes the only way to protect his future is to revisit the past – and head things off at the pass, as it were. Stephen wants Peaches to stay safely in the present, of course, but she senses her help will be needed.

Will Stephen and Peaches find each other in the past? Will fate allow them to change things enough to avert disaster? With a little help from some ancestors, there can be no doubt.

This is not my favorite of the series – the hero and heroine are a bit bland and overshadowed by the supporting characters that show up along the way. Still, faithful reader, if you are a frequent visitor to The Pond, you know I love Lynn Kurland’s books. They are an example of a world that keeps getting richer and more real with every story. And in her world, love is magical…how can that be anything but good?

Grade: B

Summary:

FALLING THROUGH TIME IS DANGEROUS…

Peaches Alexander is thrilled to receive an unexpected invitation to a weekend party given by the handsome, eligible Duke of Kenneworth. The only problem: Stephen de Piaget, a stuffy medieval studies scholar who seems determined to get in the way. Peaches has absolutely no desire to get involved with Stephen, until a quirk of Fate sends her hurtling through time…

UNLESS THERE’S SOMEONE TO CATCH YOU.

Stephen de Piaget has been leading a double life: respectable professor by day, knight-in-training during holidays and summer terms. When Peaches goes missing, Stephen knows he’s the only one who can rescue her from medieval peril. Little do they know that the greatest danger they’ll face won’t be the business end of a sword, but their own unruly hearts….